Joseph Calleja returns to the stage of Munich’s Nation Theatre tonight and tomorrow for gala concerts of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Italian composer. For these two sold-out performances, Zubin Mehta leads the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera, and an exceptional quartet of soloists that in addition to the Maltese tenor includes soprano Krassima Stoyanova, mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, and bass Kwangchul Youn.

The concerts follow Joseph’s successful run at the Bavarian State Opera last week as Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. For those who missed the performances, Joseph’s “rich and sonorous” (Interchanging Idioms) portrayal of Tebaldo can be heard on Deutsche Grammophon’s recording of I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanča.

Malta did not win the Eurovision but lo and behold the sun still rose and the island (the center of the known universe) still spun…

My two cents is that Ira Losco gave a really good performance and that the whole presentation was excellent. She shouldn’t have performed cause she is pregnant? Come off it – I have performed repeatedly with pregnant opera singers well into their 7th and 8th month of pregnancy and trust me when I say that rehearsing and performing for a full opera production is much more physically demanding than a couple of days at the Eurovision. Of course there are those who know much better than the undersigned and who went on to say that the presentation was a tad “camp”…oh the irony when one considers that the Eurovision is the campest of them all.

Meanwhile, this wouldn’t be Malta and the Eurovision wouldn’t be the Eurovision unless its politicized to the exhaustible hilt. The inevitable “mud slinging competition,” which we will see a lot of in the coming 22 months, ensued and even yours truly (inexplicably) ended up in the midst of the fray, in yet another “supernova” in a tea cup. The Eurovision suddenly became an interchangeable bullet to be used ad nauseam by both sides much like bitter parents who use their innocent children during disputes. I have always found sycophants interesting, even amusing but they will not be getting the much desired Streisand effect from me, thank you very much. It is part of human nature after all to conjure conspiracies and we are not going to let the simple truth get in the way of some exciting and convenient fiction.

Speaking of “conjuring” is it me or is a company advertising real estate using a chap “connected” with the tragic and unnecessary death of an underage girl? It must be a clone or a”doppleganger”, otherwise this would be the epitome of bad taste and a 100 shades of wrong. Don’t get me wrong I am all for “second chances” and all of that but shouldn’t there be due process first? After all Lisa Marie didn’t get a second chance did she?